Incredible Artists #1

Something I just discovered today. Probably one of the most impressive interface I have encountered for electronic music! Electronic music provides a degree of liberty unrivaled in any other genre. The innovations we go through in half a decade are mind-blowing, and this guy just crossed a new boundary.

Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds

Gallagher. That name has made history more than once (probably three times I would say, but Rory Gallagher is not related to our protagonists). The two Gallaghers brothers are well known to the public, either for their great music, or for their "sex, drugs and rock'n'roll" behaviour.

 

These lads originally from Manchester were the core of my favorite Rock band: Oasis. The story of this band is very strange. Liam, the lead singer, first formed a band with his friends under the name "The Rain", but without much success. On the other side, Noel was touring with American rock stars, playing guitar for them. Noel got interested in his smaller brother's band and one day simply said he would join their band only if they'd let him compose all the songs (his words were: "Let me write your songs and I'll take you to superstardom, or else you'll rot here in Manchester"). The other members agreed and their rise to success started.

 

 

Noel's composition genius really stood out, even though they were performing in the most competitive country in terms of Rock: the United Kingdom. Over the years, they gave us incredible songs such as Wonderwall (although it derives from their original style), Champagne Supernova, Whatever, Supersonic, Live Forever, the list goes on. In 2007, they were nominated by NME as the second best band in Rock history, after the Beatles, in competition with bands such as Blur or Coldplay (when they still made good Rock). All of their studio albums have been n°1 in the charts in Great Britain... I could go on forever about this band.

However, the two brothers did not get along at all. Their rivalry and their gigantic egos led to very strong arguments. The last argument was in 2009, in Paris, just before their concert in Rock en Seine. After Noel refused to plug Liam's clothing brand for free, his brother allegedly attempted to hit him with his  own guitar. The oldest brother enraged announced he was leaving the band for good. Oasis ended that night, leaving the Parisians without a show.

 

Noel was really the genius behind this band, and even though Oasis democratised over the years, he was still composing most of the songs. He announced after his departure, the beginning of his solo carrier, which I awaited eagerly. He announced his comeback in 2011with the band "Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds" and released his first "solo" album named after the band.

Through this album I re-lived Oasis' genius, with very orchestral songs, mixing Rock and a bit of fanfare in some songs, giving it a unique sound. I was very excited to discover this album and was pleasantly surprised by its quality, its originality, while still maintaining the basics which had once taken Oasis to the top.

Good on you Noel.

 

On another note, his new album was released last February!

 

Here is an extract (my favorite)

Enjoy:

 

 

Arcade Fire Warms the Heart - by Conor Mills

A husband and wife leading a band with the guy’s younger brother backing them up?! Surely that won’t last long – remember the fate of sibling formed bands like Hanson who dropped out of the public eye almost immediately after their one hit wonder ‘Mmmbop’, or the constantly feuding Gallagher brothers of Oasis? Imagine adding the complexity of touring with your better half and suddenly that band’s days seem numbered. . . 

While all these groups are great in their own right, there is just something special about the Johnny Cash/June Carter style relationship between Win Butler and Regine Chassagne that produces an irresistible kind of music. With each band member being a multi-instrumentalist of some kind their music has a very dynamic feel to it in the sense that no two songs sound the same. Each of their albums also have different underlying themes which appear quite personal to the front two singing them. 

It may be something to do with how easy it is to relate to the subjects that Arcade Fire sing about that has propelled them almost immediately after releasing their first album to the forefront of Indie Rock music where they have remained ever since. 

Here are a few personally handpicked songs from each of their four studio albums to give a listen to. 

#1 Funeral – Neighborhood #3 (Power Out) 

A rip-roaring, head banging tune unlike any other Arcade Fire song. Butler’s emotions come clean in this song with anger evident in the lyrics and heavy rock style riffs.

#2 Neon Bible – Intervention 

The first version of this song I heard was an unreleased somewhat raw acoustic version and it was clear it was a meangingful song to the band highlighting their frustration with the idea of religion in general. The refined studio version contains an organ throughout the song which makes it quite poignant.

#3 The Suburbs – Sprawl II (Mountains beyond mountains) 

My personal favourite song of all time (not just by Arcade Fire). In this song Chassagne sings about growing up in a sheltered suburban life in an area commonly referred to throughout the album as ‘the Sprawl’ and being unable to break free. It is quite a melancholic topic but its sung with such energy and with the help of rhythmic  synthesiser riffs it becomes such an uplifting song. Relatively simple, but I think it’s a masterpiece!!

#4 Reflektor - Reflektor 

This fourth song I included mainly because again it seems to set itself apart from others, despite being the title song of the Reflektor album. Featuring David Bowie in the chorus who has always been an admirer of the band (which is high praise indeed), the song’s repetitive lyrics resemble the theme of the song. Featuring catchy bass lines, a mixture of French and English lyrics and a rising chorus, this is one of those songs you can listen to over and over. 

Those who happen across the music of Arcade Fire accidentally rarely turn back and if you still haven't had the pleasure of doing so, you now you have a recommendation to go and do it purposefully. Another accolade they can claim is that they are also widely renowned as being one of the best current live acts around and I can add testament to that - I was lucky to catch them on the last leg of their Reflektor tour in Dublin last year and the concert was just immense! I will be sure to be there on their next tour when it undoubtedly happens as the band's dominance over the Indie rock genre shows no signs of slowing... 

Aphex Twin & IDM

IT'S FINALLY HERE! The long awaited return of one the pioneers in electronic music. First announced mysteriously on the deep web, Syro is the first album of the artist since 2001!

During the 90s, Richard David James (a.k.a. Aphex Twin) played with a few genres and revolutionised most of them with his ability to extract beauty from disorder. Moreover, his extensive collaboration with Richard Cunningham - to my opinion the most talented music video director ever - resulted in the most perfect visual representation of these chaotic and dark songs.

In 2001, the album named Drukqs, was Richard David James' (a.k.a Aphex Twin) opportunity to go towards experimenting with new instruments and producing a powerfully complex sound. Some of his songs even feel like they are being played with John Cage's famous prepared piano.

Today Aphex Twin has moved back to the sounds which once made his name. A mix of acid techno and Intelligent Dance Music (IDM) is the perfect come back and makes you want to re-listen all his discography from beginning to end.

IDM

Now what kind of a pretentious genre is IDM? Well in this case, "intelligent" means complex. Please note this genre is still quite arbitrary and the rules explained below do not apply to every songs (but are recurrent aspects from what I have heard).

The rhythms are incredibly complicated, rarely following a defined pattern. Take any Pop song for instance; the pattern will be 4/4, which means 4 beats per measure, and 4 measures per phrase. This is the most common pattern because everyone knows how to dance to it, and it's simplicity makes it easy to remember. In IDM however this pattern will either be over complex or even totally nonexistent. While this provides a unparallelled degree of liberty, mastering these rhythms to obtain a beautiful song is where genius comes into play.

IDM can also be the use of a succession of very different small sounds, each seeming individual and unique. This requires an enormous amount of work as you are not limited to one synthesised sound which varies in pitch (like a regular melody), but rather an infinite number of different synths or samples, each sculpted individually.

This genre is worth discovering for its originality. Each song feels like a masterpiece, not always to the ear but always in terms of imagining the amount of work put towards its composition.
If you want to discover more IDM, I recommend your listen to the likes of
- Amon Tobin - ISAM
- Aphex Twin - Richard D. James Album
- Squarepusher (recently recommended to me).

Asaf Avidan - Different Pulses

The story of Asaf Avidan's international mega-fame starts with a disagreement.

A young German artist called Wankelmut decided to make a remix of the song "One Day / Reckoning Song". Asaf, far from impressed by the remix, asked him not to publish it. Wankelmut went ahead and propelled himself to the #1 in the charts in 14 countries!

When I first heard Asaf Avidan (at the time part of Asaf Avidan & the Mojos), I was mesmerised by her voice (very similar to Janis Joplin).

One year and two CDs bought later, I saw Asaf for the first time in a video: a 33 year old Israeli man!?

More surprisingly, his unusual and unique voice was accompanied by a passionate dexterity with a guitar in his lives.

Coming back to Different Pulses, his first and only solo album to date. It is simply a masterpiece in the folk-rock genre with gripping theatrical songs transported by his incredible voice.

I have trouble choosing which song to present from this album since it's just one of those records where every song is equally magical. I'll make my life easier and choose the first one, named after the album: Different Pulses!